There’s A New Leading Cause of Death For Americans Under 50

And it’s preventable! The big question is how to get so many people, generally young people, from trying heroin in the first place. You can’t become addicted if you never try it.

I had a friend who was recovering heroin addict, and she told me at the height of her addiction she would do anything to get her next fix. Literally anything. She was attempting to get clean for the umpteenth time. We lost touch, so I don’t know if she were successful or not. Most people aren’t. In fact the majority of addicts won’t stop until one of two things happens: They end up in jail, or in the ground.

Over the past two-year period, more Americans died of opiate addiction than died in the entire Vietnam War. Drug overdoses now cause more deaths than gun violence and car crashes. In fact, accidental opioid overdoses were responsible for more deaths in 2015 than HIV/AIDS did at the height of the epidemic in 1995.

On June 5, 2017, the New York Times reported that drug overdose deaths in 2016 would most likely land someplace between 59,000 and 65,000 Americans. That is a 19 percent rise in deaths from the 52,404 recorded in 2015. Drug overdoses are now the leading cause of death among Americans under 50.

Chuck Taylor

My radio career began right here in Connecticut when I started Reporting on the stock car races at the now defunct Danbury Fair Race-arena, at the age of 14. After High School, I attempted to enter into the stressful world of air-traffic contr...